I can't open excel because the file path is too long

Question

I can't open excel because the file path is too long

Answer 1

If you're unable to open Excel because the file path is too long, this is likely due to a character limit imposed by Microsoft Office products. For Excel, the total length of the path and the file name, including the file name extension, must not exceed 218 characters. If it does, you will encounter an error message indicating that the path is too long.

To resolve this issue, you can try one of the following methods:

1. Rename the file to have a shorter name.
2. Rename one or more folders in the path to have shorter names.
3. Move the file to a folder with a shorter path name.

By ensuring that the total length of the path is within the character limit, you should be able to open your Excel file successfully.

Answer 2

Hi @Jason Taylor,

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum.

According to your concern, if you get a "Path too long" error, it means you have exceeded the maximum character limit that allowed for your folders and files. To solve this issue, you can try following these steps:

1- Follow the guidance provided by Q&A assist.

The previous response of Q&A assist has provided basic troubleshooting ways such as move the file to shorter file path or rename it to a shorter name to reduce the number of characters do not exceed the limitation.

2- Allow long path on Windows

If you prefer keeping the file names, you can increase the limit on your system via Registry:

• Press Windows + R and type regedit then press OK to open Registry Editor.

• Navigate to this path or copy paste in the navigation pane to make sure you go to the correct address: Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem
• Double click to open the LongPathsEnabled entry in the list > change the Value data from 0 to 1 then press OK

Hope this will help. Please try the outlined steps and let me know if it works for your situation. If not, we can work together to find the solution.

If you need further assistance, please feel free to share it under the comments of this post. I'm happy to help.

Thank you for your cooperation and understanding. Looking forward to your response.

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